Always Bein' Cautious
by J. Maria
Summary: A stowaway finds herself in Serenity's cargo hold. Questioning and threatening ensue.
1. Always Bein' Cautious

Title: Always Bein' Cautious  
author: Jmaria  
Rating: PG-13  
Disclaimer: Joss made em, I just play with them.  
Summary: A stowaway finds herself in Serenity's cargo hold. Questioning and threatening ensue.  
A/N: Response to The ABC Challenge - 973.

**__**

Always Bein' Cautious

"Answers better be comin' outta your mouth a sight quicker than that," Captain Mal Reynolds said to the brown haired girl currently struggling in Jayne Cobbs' arms.  
"But I already told you, I'm not Alliance!"  
"Course, we're just supposed to believe you," Zoe Washburne said flatly, her gun still aimed at the girl.  
"Dropped out of the green, didn't expect to see the black," River Tam whispered loud enough for Mal to hP> 

"Knowledge is power," River said grinning.

"Like me to show ya that Jayne ain't no girl, I'll so you my -"

"Man-bits not welcome to clean eyes," River scrunched up her nose.

"Now there'll be no showing of anybody's man-bits, or I'll blow 'em clean off," Zoe glared coolly at Jayne.

"Oh, like you ain't ever seen 'em before."

"Perhaps I don't reckon to ever see 'em again."

"Quit strugglin', makes me think you wanna see them man-bits of mine," Jayne leered down at Dawn.

"Right now, I just want you to shut up," Dawn snapped, her arms sore from the iron grip he had on them.

"Suppose I don't wanna, what're ya gonna do about it?"

"Take out your left testicle with the heel of my boot, and following up by taking out your right one while you scream like a little girl?"

"Unusual and disturbin' imagery you got there, girl," Mal commented, as he strode back into the cargo hold.

"Very useful, I find when I'm being held hostage by Mr. Chimpo here," Dawn jerked her head hard into Jayne's chest.

"Watch it, girlie, else I might have ta paddle you."

"Xenophobic bastard," Dawn snapped.

"Your teachers went outta their way to teach you a nice round about way a saying chauvinist pig, now didn't they?" Zoe chuckled.

"Zoe, one day you're gonna hafta tell me how you came to know the meaning of that big word she used," Mal said curiously.


	2. Darn Excellent Findings

Title: Darn Excellent Findings  
author: Jmaria  
Rating: PG-13  
Disclaimer: Joss made em, I just play with them.  
Summary: A stowaway finds herself in Serenity's cargo hold. Questioning and threatening ensue.  
A/N: Okay, continuing in the every sentence starting with a letter in alphabetical order because I'm a glutton for pain. Everyone is still

**__**

Darn Excellent Findings

"Andrew is so dead when I find him," Dawn hissed. Buffy had warned him thousands of times not to play with knifes, especially after that whole incident down in the basement of Sunnydale High. Couldn't he ever listen?

"Didja say something?"

"Ew, did anyone ever tell you that you smell funky?"

"Funky," River said, gingerly pulling at Jayne's shirt.

"Gorramitt, Mal, tell em I ain't funky!"

"Huh?"

Inara found them like that, River pulling and poking at Jayne's clothes, Mal and Jayne staring at the girl in Jayne's arms. _Just don't let this be another Saffron situation_, Inara thought to herself.

"Kick-ass outfit you got on, hon," the girl called to her.

"Looks like you know our little stowaway, 'Nara," Mal turned on her.

"Mei-mei, come away from there," Simon called, bursting in before Inara could defend herself.

"Never seen her in my life, I just really like her outfit, buddy. Okay, this holding me against my will and stuck to Mr. Chimpo here is getting really old."

"Put her down, Jayne," Inara snapped.

"Quit bitchin', 'Nara. Ruttin girl's been kickin' and clawin' since she popped outta her hide-y hole," Jayne yelled.

"_She_ didn't pop out, she popped in. Through the green glow, blood drip-dropping in a symphony of idiocy."

"Um, what she said - it's not necessarily wrong," Dawn said nervously. "Very accurate, actually."

"What are you goin' on about?"

"'Xactly what I was wonderin'," Mal demanded.

"Yeah, there's this thing with blood, well, _my _blood to be specific and if I'm cut I open up a portal to other dimensions," Dawn blurted when she saw his hand go to the pistol at his side.

"Zoe, get Wash to turn this boat around now!"


	3. Gorram Hero Issues

Title: Gorram Hero Issues  
author: Jmaria  
Rating: PG-13  
Disclaimer: Joss made em, I just play with them.  
Summary: A stowaway finds herself in Serenity's cargo hold. Questioning and threatening ensue.  
A/N: Ok, so the "master" plan is to write roughly 8 chapters of this story (including the previous two. three letters of the alphabet per chapter heading.) I'm glad everyone's enjoying the story so far.

**__**

Gorram Hero Issues

Ah, the oh-so-fun stash-Dawn-in-a-closet game, cause she _hadn't _done that to death. Beyond the steel plated doors of this closet, she could hear the nine crew members bickering about what do to with the her.

"Chuck 'er out into the black. Don't need more problems than the ones we already got," Jayne said gruffly, his eyes landing accusingly on Simon and his sister River.

"Everybody shut up, so I can think," Mal snapped as he paced.

"Forget chuckin' her into the black, I ain't having a part in that," Kaylee said nervously.

"Girl like her keep fallin in my lap, little Kaylee," Mal sighed.

"Her mannerisms are strange, but we know next to nothing about her," Zoe countered.

"If we're gonna talk about what to do with her, perhaps we should include her?" Inara replied.

"Just go and fetch her and tell her that some of us are planning to toss her out into space?" Book said hotly.

Killing her, when had _that _become part of the deal? Like she needed to be dead, she needed it like she needed Andrew to cut her arm when their group of junior slayers got ambushed.

"Mal, we can't kill an innocent girl," Wash reasoned.

"Never said killin' her was in the plan, Wash."

"Oh, so what're we gonna do with her, Mal?" Jayne snapped.

_Please let this Mal guy be rational and cool, and make him see the error of his ways_, Dawn prayed, _please let him bitch-slap that Jayne guy._

"Quit whispering, prayer answered," River muttered as she rose to her feet and tip-toed over to Jayne.

"River, what are you -" Simon started to ask.

__

Smack - Jayne's chair fell backwards, taking Jayne with it.

"Tell me that was real, that Jayne just got smacked by a ninety pound girl?" Wash laughed.

"Uncouth, but he deserved it - making the poor bird frightened," River shrugged, sitting back down beside Simon and Kaylee.

_Very cool, someone hit that big lug_, Dawn thought, her ear pressed more tightly against the door. _Weird, but still cool, _Dawn shivered but ignored it and caught the middle of what Mal was saying.

" - 'xactly what am I supposed to do with her, Shepard? You got any answers in all your religiosity for me?" Mal shouted.

"Zilch," the preacher said stiffly, making his way towards _Serenity's_ newest passenger.


	4. Just Keep Lying

Title: Just Keep Lying  
author: Jmaria  
Rating: PG-13  
Disclaimer: Joss made em, I just play with them.  
Summary: A stowaway finds herself in Serenity's cargo hold. Questioning and threatening ensue.  
A/N: Sing the chapter title the same way Dory sings "Just Keep Swimming" in _Finding Nemo_. It's funner that way. Also, totally made up the name of the planets/moons.

**__**

Just Keep Lying

"At present we have, at most, a terribly frightened girl locked up for no apparent reason," Shepherd Book said, standing just outside the room she was being kept in.

"Because she tried to rob me a my man-bits," Jayne snapped, rubbing at the spot River'd hit with more force than a girl her size was supposed to have. Crazy little -

"Doesn't liked to be called names," River said, pointedly glaring in Jayne's direction.

"Everybody's makin a fuss. First off, that ain't no scared little bunny we got in there. Gotta keep on remindin' everybody that she appeared outta thin air in the cargo bay. Hatch'd been locked and bolted, add that and the fact that we're in atmo, tends to make one a mite suspicious," Mal snapped.

"If that's true, where did she come from?" Simon frowned.  
"Just joining us doc, cuz we all been askin that same question," Jayne snorted.

"Keep comin' back to that," Mal sighed, his eyes on Shepherd

"Left Loki's atmo about two weeks ago, can't imagine we'd not notice an extra body on board," Zoe replied.

"Mebbe she got on at the last fuelin' station, who cares?" Jayne snapped.

"Not now, Jayne."

"Or we can choose to believe what the girl says is true," Book said quietly, his eyes traveling to the small trail of blood on that led to the girl.

"Portal opening blood?" Mal said flatly.

"Quick, explain how a tiny little thing like that can _travel_ _dimensions_ with her blood?" Wash asked.

"Rightly don't know, could be she's gone off her ruttin rocker. Sounds like that, at least. Tell me why you're so eager to believe her, Shepherd."

"Used to be legend, hidden for her own sake, till the green glow was made flesh. Very costly, paid in blood and death and dimensions," River interrupted.

"While I can't claim to know what River does, nothing about that girl has suggested that she's truly a threat to us," Shepard Book replied to no one in particular in the lull of silence that normally followed most of River's sentences.

"'Xscuse me? You call that crazy bitch threatenin' my man-bits not bein a threat to us on this boat?" Jayne yelled.

"Zany thought, but that actually might be a good thing for all concerned," Inara said quietly.


	5. Maybe Nobody Overheard

Title: Maybe Nobody Overheard  
author: Jmaria  
Rating: PG-13  
Disclaimer: Joss made em, I just play with them.  
Summary: A stowaway finds herself in Serenity's cargo hold. Questioning and threatening ensue.  
A/N: I'm glad everyone's enjoying the story. I don't claim to be super intelligent (I wouldn't do half the stupid things I do if I were), and I've run out of K, X, and Z words rather quickly. It was originally only going to be the first chapter, but it was so fun and challenging to write that it ended up getting continued. Thanks to all the reviewers and readers.

**__**

Maybe Nobody Overheard

A bright light blinded her as the door to the closest opened, and Dawn felt a feeling a dread skip across her stomach. Bracing herself for a fight, she blinked to get a look of her attacker. Course, she wasn't expecting to see a gray-haired older man who looked more like a preacher than an assassin.

"Don't come any closer, or I'll - okay, well I don't know what I'll do, but it'll be something," Dawn cried, yanking on the pair of cuffs that locked her down.

"Everything is going to be just fine, nobody is going to hurt you," the man said in a calming, even tone.

"Fine? Getting locked in a - whatever this is, is fine?" Dawn snapped, her voice a touch more hysterical than she was going for.

"Hold it a second, preacher man. I don't recall saying we'd let the stowaway out yet," Mal called.

"Just don't see how keepin her locked up like that's fair, Cap'n," Kaylee broke in, her voice a little wobbly.

"Kaylee, I don't need this right now. "

"Look, if you let me talk I can explain how I got here," Dawn called hopefully.

"Maybe we oughta let her talk, Mal," Wash said.

"Now everybody's had their stupid ass two cents in, I say we keep the crazy bitch where she is," Jayne snapped.

"Oh, please, I _barely _touched you, you big baby," Dawn snorted. "Pathetic really, when you stop to think about it."

"Quit rilin' him up, would you?"

"Right, I'll stop as soon as someone lets me out of this closet!"

"She's still bleeding, if we leave it for too long, it might get infected," Simon pointed out.

"Take her down to the infirmary, Zoe and Shepherd Book'll go with you," Mal said sighing. "Use whatever means you gotta if'n she acts up, _dong ma_?"

"Vulnerable little thing like her, what's she gonna do to them?" Wash asked himself, gaining looks from all five females currently crowded into the kitchen area.

"What, yer actually listening to that -"Jayne started to befoul her image once more but was stopped by yet another punch from River.

"'Xactly what part didn't you understand when I told you no more hittin', little one?" Mal demanded, glaring at River.

"You said no touching guns, didn't - used her hands to hit him," River said simply.  
"Zoe, get em outta here, and take River with you."


	6. Pretty Quaint Resources

Title: Pretty Quaint Resources  
author: Jmaria  
Rating: PG-13  
Disclaimer: Joss made em, I just play with them.  
Summary: A stowaway finds herself in Serenity's cargo hold. Questioning and threatening ensue.  
A/N: Thank you all for the wonderful feedback. I'm glad everyone is enjoying the story so far.

**__**

Pretty Quaint Resources

Against Jayne's many protests, the captain let the girl out of the closet. Before he could say 'nother thing about it, Book, Simon, River, and Zoe had 'scorted her out of the galley.

"Can you tell us your name?" Book asked quietly.

"Dawn, it's Dawn Summers. Everybody you meet get shoved in a closet like that?" Dawn couldn't keep the contempt out of her voice.

"Few of 'em," Zoe replied. "Gotta be careful when stowaways get on our boat."

"Here we are, right down this way, Miss Summers," Simon began the decent down the stairway.

"Is it far from land?" Dawn asked, checking for portholes to see the ocean.

"Just where do you think you are?" Book asked gently.

"Keys, she sees keys and water and peninsulas," River supplied. "Looking for blue, but we're encased in black."

"Maybe one of you could un-vague that for me?"

"Not now, now we look at that nasty cut you've got," Zoe said stiffly.

"Okay," Dawn started to say, but her throat constricted tightly as she stared at the tiny little hospital room.

"Perhaps you can tell us where you're from, Dawn?" Book led her gently to the examining chair.

"Quietly, right?" Dawn looked at the doctor, they were always asking for people to wait or talk quietly, so their massive brains could focus on healing people. "Right, um, I'm twenty, I live with my sister and a few family friends in London -"

"Say that again?"

"That I live in London?" Dawn asked, puzzled.

"Ugly cut, but I can make the stitches tight enough that it won't leave a scar, and the bleeding's stopped," Simon examined the deep gash on her shoulder.

"Vexing and slightly painful, but yeah, the bleeding stopped about an hour ago," Dawn huffed.

"Well, you've got another one on your back that's a bit deeper, by the state of these bloodstains."

"'Xactly where do you think you are, little one?" Zoe asked, ignoring Simon's observations.

"Yeah, um, a boat somewhere on the ocean, right?" Dawn replied, noticing the looks Zoe and Book were giving each other. "Zero for zero on being right, aren't I?"


	7. Something Taught Universally

Title: Something Taught Universally  
author: Jmaria  
Rating: PG-13  
Disclaimer: Joss made em, I just play with them.  
Summary: A stowaway finds herself in Serenity's cargo hold. Questioning and threatening ensue.

_**Something Taught Universally**_

"Are you telling me I'm in fricken' outer space? Because that is all kinds of crazy, and I'm really not - we're in space?" Dawn screamed, this close to hyperventilating.

"Crazy isn't relevant, less chance of drowning and you fear that above all else," River said in a manner that was supposed to be comforting.

"Dawn, you need to calm down or you're going to hurt yourself," Simon cautioned, prepping a smoother.

"Even if it - it's not possible to be in space unless you're an astronaut! Finding it a little hard to believe that - that guy _Jayne_ got into the Space program!" Dawn yelled, tears starting to streak down her cheeks.

"Girl needs to know, Earth-that-was isn't there."

"Hold on for like one second? I - is this another dimension? Just - tell me this isn't happening!" Dawn screamed, glaring at the men and women who stood around her.

"Key opens all doors through time, space, and cross dimensions. Led you through time and space, forgot all about the dimensionality aspect," River murmured, taking the girl's hand in hers.

"More exiting new revelations keep happening to me with this stupid Key bullshit. Never - am I really in the future?" Dawn whimpered, the truth hitting her harder than she would have like.

"Oh, um, well, see that all depends on _when_ you think you're from," Simon replied, methodically sanitizing a patch of skin in the crook of her elbow while her attention was diverted.

"Put it that way, and a girl could almost _think_ you really believe her," Dawn snapped, yanking her arm away. "Quit trying to drug me!"

"Really you can relax, it's only a painkiller for your wounds - it's nothing more -"

"Simon's spinning lies, like back on Osiris. They're sedatives, meant to make you sleep," River cut him off, giving him a patented little sister look.

"Usually a guy treats me to dinner and a drink before he tries to slip me a Mickey, Doc," Dawn glared, folding in on herself.

"Very sorry to interuppt what seems like a 'lets pick on the good doc', cause I always do enjoy those, but answer his question," Mal said from the doorway.

"Why should I?"

"'Xactly two things are keepin' me from shoving you out the airlock and taking a deep breath. You should know that your appearance on my boat is, along with bein' alarmin' and mystifyin', warrants a full disclosure of who and what you are includes whatever time you think your from, less you wanta be riddled with holes."

Zoe gave her Captain an are-you-shitting-me look. Although he was a better man than he fessed up to being, she wasn't so sure he _was_ planning on either shooting the girl or tossing her out the airlock. But there was a go-along-with-the-mean-old-man routine, and Zoe gave the girl the I'm-not-gonna-stop-him look.

"Captain Pain in the ass, I'm from the year 2005," Dawn snapped. "Do you want to tell me how far into the future I've landed, or do you just want to toss me out your precious airlock?"

"Everyone should just calm down," Book said peacefully, having read the looks between Zoe and Mal.

"Five hundred years, by rough calculation. Gonna tell me you slipped through a portal a blood to land on my gorram ship?"

"How am I supposed - you think this is a game, Captain? I would love to tell you I snuck on at Tatooine and that I am a Jedi master here to fight the Sith, but I'm just a - it's not easy for me to deal with this -" Dawn broke off, tears in her eyes.

"Just let me give you a sedative, Dawn," Simon begged, seeing the girl's pain reflected in his sister's eyes.

"Keep an eye on her, Shepherd," Mal whispered, he turned to Zoe as the girl answered the doctor.

"Like I could stop you," she murmured, falling deeper into herself.

"Meet me in the common area in five with 'em as soon as she's out, get the doc to bring that encyclopedia with him."

"Now how is that supposed to help?" Zoe asked.

"Obviously she's a'lyin' about being from 500 years in the past, so we're gonna think a somethin'."

"Possible you're gonna expand on that, sir?"

"Quiz her, and look 'er up in the history device people search all the newest models got on 'em."

"Really think that's gonna work, sir?"

Sure, he was all manner a grateful that Zoe was the one person who would have his back no matter what, but right now she was workin his last nerve.

"There's a girl sittin' in my infirmary who thinks she travelled through time an' space on account a her blood. Until now, I thought I'd heard and seen every damn excuse in the 'verse that a hitchhiker can make up. Vast amounts a _go-se_ is what I read in the girl's story, that is a'course before I looked into them doe eyes and felt like the biggest _hundan_ this side a the world."

"What do you think's real, Mal?"

"'Xactly what she said, but my mind says it can't be real, cause magic an' such ain't real. You think ya heard everything, and then some little slip of a fragile piece of existence comes and knocks you on your ass."

Zoe only nodded in agreement.


	8. Very Weighty 'Xaminations

Title: Very Weighty 'Xaminations  
author: Jmaria  
Rating: PG-13  
Disclaimer: Joss made em, I just play with them.  
Summary: A stowaway finds herself in Serenity's cargo hold. Questioning and threatening ensue.

_**Very Weighty 'Xaminations**_

"Are you sure this is gonna work, Mal?" Wash asked, nervously glancing down at the list of prepared interrogation questions the Captain had picked. Before today, _Wash_ hadn't even known half of this junk and he was pretty sure Mal hadn't either.

"Can ya just can it? Damn girl said she's from the gorram past, Wash. Everybody's just on-board with that?"

"Far be it for me to speak reason, but could it be the girl is just simply out of her mind?" Inara asked.

"Great, now _everybody_ thinks I'm a nut job. Here I thought high school was hell, but no, turns out that the future is even hellier. I'm here to take your dumb pop quiz," Dawn snapped from the doorway, anger and hurt and a thousand different emotions running across her youthful and overly open face.

"Just sit on down, and we can get to it," Mal shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"Karma is such a bitch," Dawn grumbled, thinking that this was almost exactly like hell - being stuck in a spaceship with pop quizzes all the live-long day.

"Let's start with politics, those are always fun," Mal grumbled. "Maybe there was a war, where'd it take place?"

"Now what year would this be, and are all your questions gonna be this dumb, dumb ass?" Dawn asked sweetly

"Oh, she's _so_ quaint, Mal, I say we keep her," Wash laughed.

"Perhaps I can give you a general description and you can match it to the stupid questions on your list. Quick rundown of 2005, until October 17th, which was the night I'm assuming I slipped through time and space because of Andrew. Right, um, politics were boring and Republicians held the majority in Congress and the House of Representives in the U.S.. _Star Wars episode III_ came out in May, I know because Andrew dragged me to see it three times, wailed like a baby when Darth Vader appeared and bitched on about how it wasn't up to parr with the original trilogy. The guy who played Gilligan passed away. U.S. armed troops were still in Iraq trying to build a democracy. Verified and do I get a gold sticker, teach?" Dawn snapped, taking a deep breath.

"We don't need a test, not anymore anyway," Shepherd Book said, his head bent over what looked like a palm-pilot thing.

"'Xactly what are you sayin', preacher-man?" Mal demanded.

"You see, I've found you in the Ancient history section, Miss Summers."

"Zany question, but it's the obits, isn't it?" Dawn's voice shook, but her eyes remained steady.

"Afraid so," Book said gently, showing the captain the record. Before him sat a dead person, but then it weren't the first time.

"Before - I want to know what they say I died of, if there was a body and when I -" Dawn choked out, the last bit of hope of getting home she had fading away.

Clearly, the girl was off her axle, which was why the doc had doped her again. Damn girl didn't seem to care, and Mal wasn't ready to consider the guilt his mind was ponderin' this very second. Everyone sat around the table, as they had the day before when the girl had been tryin' to explain how she got on _Serenity_.

"Finger idents match, so does the photo," Simon pointed out.

"Gettin' those things ain't as hard as you seem ta think, doc," Jayne pointed out, their collective minds all slipping to the job on Ariel.

"Having idents that are over five hundred years old aren't as easy to get as newer ones, though," Book added.

"I didn't find any evidence of a surgical procedures, so I -"

"Just believe her? Keen to believe cuz she's pretty and your sister says she's real don't make a whole lotta sway for me, Doc," Mal snapped.

"Labeling her as another Saffron or whatever the hell her name is doesn't hold a lot of sway of your opinion either, _Captain_," Simon said hotly.

"Maybe we should figure out what to do with her, find her a planet to put her on," Inara interjected.

Now the whole room was looking at the Companion oddly. Only a few hours ago, the woman was clamoring to help and heal this girl, and now she's was making disparaging remarks and all but demanding to get the girl off the boat.

"Perhaps you'll care to tell us what you know, Inara?" Book asked, leaning forward on the table.

"Question, _you know_ something about this little stowaway, 'Nara?" Wash asked, confusion in his eyes.

"Really, what could I know? She claims to be from the past!"

"That's a stallin' tactic, 'Nara," Mal countered, his face livid with anger.

"Until - until she said her name, I didn't know who she was," Inara sighed, looking away.

"Veering off the course, Inara, Why don't you tell us what you know?"

'Xpression crossed her face that Mal'd never seen before, but Inara started talkin' anyway.

"Years ago, back before humans left Earth-that-was, the Companion Guild wasn't known as that and didn't even practice half the things we do now. Zealous historians and girls of extraordinary skill ran a group known in select circles as the Watchers Council."

"Ah, how the mighty slipped inta whorin' -"

"Before this gets into a Mal-Inara-whore-off, can we let her finish the story?" Wash cut Mal's tirade off.

"Course, let her go on about how the brilliant folk adapted."

"Dawn Summers was a key member of this society, helped bring new blood and a fresh change to the organization. Eventually, over the years the group had to adapt again, and from what I know it had a lot to do with this girl's death."

Fear, confusion, and bewilderment crossed all of the faces sitting around the table, well, except for Jayne's. God only knew what was going through the man's head, and most of they time they really didn't want to know.

"Here's the part I can't seem ta wrap my head 'round, Inara," Mal said crossing his arms. "If this girl's _dead_ how in the Sam Hell'd she end up on my boat?"

"Just as she said, through a portal created by her blood," Book answered, sighing heavily as he studied the shocked expression on Inara's face. "Knew a monk on Hera who believed in the _old_ teachings, spoke often of a brotherhood that was nearly wiped out at the start of the second millennium on Earth-that-was. Lived to tell the tales of this order who'd done the impossible. Made the purest energy in the 'verse into a flesh and blood creature. Never really believed a word he said, until the girl in there mentioned being the Key."

"Oh."

Possibilities clouded River's head, swarmed in and out and she heard the pained cries, saw the girl crying and left to bleed. Quick, make it quick, let it flow, let it end. Running, she was always running and sacrificing. Sisters do that for each other.

"Tell me what happened to them, to my family and friends," Dawn said tearfully from the doorway, burrowed in the borrowed sweater Zoe had gotten for her and scaring the crap out of the crew.

"Um, lamby-toes, is that _my_ sweater?" Wash asked, focusing on the least important detail.

"Very nice, pick now to ignore my shock and grief, joker," Dawn snapped.

"When did I become the bad guy, that's Jayne's job!"

"'Xcuse me, I'm sorry to wound your pride, but I just found out that I'm dead and five hundred years in the future, buddy."

"You shouldn't be walking around, the drug could kick in at any moment and -" Simon started to say, but Dawn's eyes were starting to roll back into her head.

"Zany hats, we should all wear -"and then she hit the ground hard.


	9. Young Zombies

Title: Young Zombies  
author: Jmaria  
Rating: PG-13  
Disclaimer: Joss made em, I just play with them.  
Summary: A stowaway finds herself in Serenity's cargo hold. Questioning and threatening ensue.  
A/N: This part marks the end of the series. Or at least the end of the 'writing in the alphabet' form.

_**Young Zombies**_

_October 17th, 2005_

"Are you seriously considering group hats, Andrew?" Dawn Summers laughed, ignoring the fact that it was ten thirty at night and they were in a graveyard.

"But zany hats are always fun! Cobalt with polka dots -" Andrew started to say, before Dawn groaned.

"Dots make you look fat, and I am so not wearing anything with polka dots, Andrew."

"Everybody would get a big kick out of it, Dawn."

"For once, you're right, Andrew. Giles wouldn't even be able to hold that British stiff upper lip straight when you tell them about Hat-a-palooza '05."

"How do you know it won't be a huge success?" Andrew pouted.

"I - did you hear that?" Dawn asked, her eyes focusing on a point just over his shoulder.

"Just because you're the slayer's sister doesn't mean you're the boss, you know," Andrew whined.

"Keep quiet for thirty seconds, will you?" She snapped "Listen, did you hear it that time?"

"Maybe, what did you hear?"

Nothing happened for a few seconds, but Dawn kept her eyes peeled. Out of the corner of her eye Dawn saw the vegetation stir. Pulse racing, she crept over to the bush, her stake raised and ready for anything. Quick, she had to be quick and quiet about this. Reaching for the branches, Dawn braced herself for anything. Screams coming from behind her, however, was not something she'd been prepared for.

Truth be told, neither was the scary and slimy looking demon Andrew was cowering from. Usually Buffy or one of the other slayers handled the demons full on, it was pretty much out of her area of expertise, so she pulled out the Walkie-Talkie.

"Vi, we've got demons in sector nine!" Dawn shouted, yanking her sword from the duffle bag Andrew had been carrying.

What happened next she would never be completely sure of, because the last thing she remembered seeing was Andrew as she knocked him out of the way of the demon's blow. 'Xact feelings had been burning and searing pain as she tumbled towards the ground. Youthful faces were the first sight that greeted her when her eyes opened, proceeded by pistols being drawn. Zero for team Dawn, One for team demon.

After that followed the insane interrogation and oh-you-a-living-dead-girl reveal, so all in all, Dawn's day was just a tinge left of center and smack dab in oh-shit land. Blackness covered her eyes, and someone had dimmed the lights after she'd passed out. Coming too for the third time in what she was guessing was at least two days aboard the space ship - boy, was it gonna take her a while to learn to say _that_ with a straight face - was easier. Difficult, frightening and depressing, but it was getting a little easier. Everyone had left her alone, the infirmary door shut nearly completely before her.

"Figures it would be freezing in here," she said bitterly, reaching for the sweater that apparently belonged to that Zoe woman's husband.

Going towards the sounds of the crew, Dawn managed to make a path up the staircases and walkway to the cargo hold. Her eyes landed first on Jayne and the older calming man lifting weights together before moving on to where Kaylee and River were playing jacks. Inara and Mal were snapping at each other near a door marked '1', and Dawn rolled her eyes as she slipped past them. Just as soon as she thought she'd given them the slip, River's head jerked up.

"Keeping quiet as a church mouse, doesn't want to think it's real," River said loudly, calling attention to Dawn.

"Last time you were outta the infirmary, you went crazy and fell asleep on us. Made Jayne catch you," Mal called, making his way over to her.

"No way!" Dawn cried, giving Mr. Chimpo a dirty look. "Oh, please tell me you only did it to cop a feel, because I don't think I'd buy the chivalry bit from you."

"Please, more like you's was gonna fall on me one way or n'other," Jayne snorted.

"Quit pesterin' her, Jayne!" Kaylee scolded.

"Really beginning to question the power of those fancy 'Core meds of yours, Doc," Mal smirked over at Simon.

"She only had a half-dose of the weakest smoother, Captain," Simon replied.

"Thanks again for that, doc," Dawn said flatly.

"Used to better at my trade, but I work with what I have," Simon said, to which River and Dawn both rolled their eyes.

"Very ...uninteresting, doc," Dawn paused. "What exactly are you guys planning on doing with me?"

"'Xactly what we mean to," Mal said gruffly.

"You wanna clarify that sir?" Zoe asked.

"Zoe, go tell Wash to keep on course for Persephone, we got a job what needs doin'," Mal said as he headed towards the lounge, leaving Dawn with the sinking feeling that _Serenity_ was going to become her home.


End file.
